UCLA Flood Erupts Into Social Media Explosion

A busted water main pipe which flooded Westwood, California and mostly UCLA, with up to 20 million gallons of water (originally reported at 10 million by KTLA), turned into a social media frenzy on Tuesday with over 15,000 tweets over the course of a few hours.

The liquid disaster took hold at 3:30 pm in the midst of one of the worst droughts in California’s history. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said that the amount of water lost yesterday equals approximately two percent of the water used by Los Angeles residents on a daily basis, according to KTLA.

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Here are some of the tweets. One student tweeted gratitude for having been absent from school on Tuesday:

UCLA’s Drake Stadium, one of the school’s main sporting event venues was described by KTLA as being more suitable for canoeing than running track. Here is an Instagram image one Twitter user had to share:

According to Kelly Schmader, assistant vice chancellor for facilities management, at one point the pavilion was under 10 inches of water, KTLA notes. Water damage is expected and is reportedly already being seen.

Amid the created ocean of chaos, students came together to help rid the campus of some of the flood. Students placed sandbags outside of Pauley Pavilion — where Bruins basketball games are held — and helped sweep out the water out of the academic institution, KTLA noted.

UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrerro confirmed via the Daily Bruin that any necessary renovations would be made to Pauley Pavilion ahead of the school’s November 14 opening basketball game against Montana State.